This summer has been nothing short of magical. My favorite television show of all time came back with a sublime vengeance after a 27-year hiatus, transcended my wildest dreams and most rigorous expectations, and enveloped me in a dazzling community of fans and fellow sojourners from all over the world whose daily comments and posts on various fan pages have added as much mystery, joy, and laughter to my life as Twin Peaks-The Return itself.

Then, my little hobby writing project--a private Twin Peaks journal of sorts that began as a mindfulness exercise to help me write faster and more feelingly, unencumbered by the perfectionism and self-loathing that can sometimes hamstring my professional writing process--morphed into a fledgling website that has been visited over 100,000 times since I made it public on May 24, 2017. As a phlegmatic academic working in a field whose professional journal articles have a pitiable average readership of 8-10 people, I couldn't have been more surprised and delighted that THE GLASS BOX found such a large, diverse, and enthusiastic readership. That people have devoted their precious time to perusing and engaging my scattershot but deeply-felt impressions of this strange and wonderful show feels miraculous. It's fair to say that writing has never been so much fun nor have its rewards been so immediate!

My Corn and Oil essay has received about 1000x more attention than an essay I wrote a few years back on Plotinus's account of intelligible matter. Color me shocked!

The end of the transcendent Twin Peaks summer of 2017 is drawing near and many of us are taking stock of the embarrassment of riches we've received from the greatest filmic event of our lives. For me personally, no work of art I have previously encountered has moved, stretched, inspired, delighted, or disturbed me as much or as often as Twin Peaks-The Return. I'll never forget this summer, not just because it will burnish into one of my most cherished memories, but because I know that I'll be reaping the considerable rewards of living daily with its invitations to cultivate a life of ready joy, deep compassion, critical reflection, and heightened attention for years and years to come.

In celebration of a magical summer and the decidedly unlikely success of THE GLASS BOX, I've assembled a collection of some of your favorites and mine from the past three months of watching in wonder together. Some of these posts racked up more "likes" than others (whatever the blue hell that means), but what they all share in common is that each struck a chord with at least one fellow Peaker, eliciting a comment or inquiry that really deepened or challenged my outlook on the show or what I had written about it. Click the photos below to revisit the posts, and thanks so much for reading along and sending your impressions throughout the summer! This certainly isn't "Goodbye!", as I suspect I'll have even more to say once we have the whole trajectory of The Return in splendor before us. But it seems like a good time, with the grand finale just a few days away, to take stock of what we've seen so far and prepare to be dazzled, come what may!

1. The oil and corn one. It got onto Reddit somehow and lots of people clicked on it:

2. The Roadhouse one, written before Audrey's dance complicated matters still further:

3. The one that was just a bunch of photos because I was too shell-shocked and slack-jawed to comment:

4. The one that goes on for awhile about why it's good to hang in there with tough stuff:

5. The one about men behaving badly:

6.The one about beauty's trapdoor into goodness and truth (lucky for lazy-ass aesthetes like me!):

7. The one about following the light:

8. The long-ass fire one that didn't get a lot of attention but remains one of my personal favorites:

9. The long-ass one about Phillip Jeffries:

10. The one about CrAzY Part Twelve:

BONUS--The one about the episode that fell from Televisual Platonic Heaven:

Did I miss any of your favorites? Anything you'd like me to tackle on the way into the finale?​ I'm taking requests!

All your essays on this website are a real gem. Thank you very much for such a gift ;)

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beduggles

9/6/2017 07:48:48 am

Left speechless by the finale I see :)

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Mr. Roque

9/6/2017 11:56:40 am

Hahahaha! Excellent! This is a *really* insightful comment, actually. If you've read any of my other posts, you'll know that mindfulness--the state of living in the present without being stolen away from experience by regret over the past or anxiety over the future--has been a major theme of THE GLASS BOX'S outlook on Twin Peaks. Living in the present these past five days has included enjoying my son's ninth birthday, beginning the academic year, and being cast into deep awe by the finale. So, in an attempt to mitigate regret over not being the first to log a "hot take" on the big finale and anxiety over the question of when I will get around to logging a significantly colder take, I decided just to sit with it for awhile. I'm really glad to see, though, that you checked in looking for something, because I took almost 300 stills of the final two hours and have a working title for what I hope will be one of my better posts: "Who Is the Dreamer? The End of Ends and the Inception of Unceasing Wonder". Here's a teaser: it dips back into some of the Hindu and Jain influences of TP-TR, suggesting that the Jain Doctrines of Relativity provide a useful point of reference for understanding the question "Who is the Dreamer?" not as a puzzle to solve, but as an invitation to the infinite, joyful exploration of the many different and conflicting perspectives woven into the fabric of Twin Peaks. Spoiler (though it will surprise no one): I thought the finale was just gorgeous. There's no such thing as fulfillment without lack, so to experience fulfillment and lack in rapid succession, side by side...mmmmmmmm. Speechless, indeed. For now, anyway. Please do stay tuned!

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Dustin

9/6/2017 10:01:50 pm

I've been checking back every day since the finale! I haven't been able to get the finale out of my head. Your blog has been essential for me on this journey and I look forward to seeing your take on what I consider to be one of the most beautiful and haunting 2 hours of cinema of all time. I'm pretty sure I'm going to print out and bind your posts and set them next to the boxset on my shelf once it comes out! Thank you for your insight.

Mr. Roque

9/6/2017 10:08:42 pm

Dustin! Your comment made me feel so appreciated that I had to pick up my laptop, take it into the kitchen, and read your deeply encouraging remarks to my partner. She got a nice jolt of positivity from it too! Thanks for adding a glow to our evening!

Dustin

9/6/2017 10:30:14 pm

Ha! Talk about doubling: I've read your posts and taken my laptop to my wife and read them to her, which has sparked many excited conversations. Thanks for responding :) I'll keep checking back to see what you end up writing about next as I try to cope with my post Twin Peaks fugue here in Florida, awaiting the storm.

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Fiona

9/7/2017 05:58:59 pm

Hello I've been checking in regularly for your view in the final two hours. Your site has been my 'go to' after each episode. I understand about sitting with it for a while. I don't feel ready to rewatch the finale yet but look forward to that time coming. I also look forward to your next writing. Seriously, no pressure. Enjoy it :)

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Mr. Roque

Monitoring the situation from a well-designed chair somewhere in Grand Rapids, MI